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DODDS 2011 Soccer Preview

Veteran talent set to defend European titles

Sofia Cianciaruso of Naples shoots her game-tying 2-2 goal in the Division II championship game against AFNORTH last season. Cianciaruso, who will be returning for the Lady Wildcats this season, later scored the game-winning goal.

When the 2011 high school soccer season kicks off Saturday, there’ll be no lack of quality teams and quality players.

Last year’s youth movement saw to that.

Nineteen of the 30 first- and second-team all-Europeans of each sex in 2010 were underclassmen. And despite the usual attrition created by change-of-station moves, 12 female all-stars and about as many All-Europe boys return for this season.

Unfortunately for schools wishing to challenge last year’s champions, a disproportionate number of those standouts are returning to teams that won European titles in 2010.

SHAPE’s Division I boys, for example, welcome back Manuel Vela (seven goals, six assists in 2010) and Trent Castro (eight goals, four assists), along with a dozen seniors, according to new coach Tony Harris.

Harris, whose last DODDS coaching experience was in Japan, replaces DODDS Europe legend Tony Blasio. Blasio had guided the Spartans since the 1960s and led the team to the D-I title last May in the school’s first campaign at that level.

In Division II, senior All-European Sofia Cianciaruso, the midfielder who converted a 40-yard free kick into the title-winning goal against AFNORTH last May, suits up again for Naples. And while AOSR’s three All-Europeans all graduated, the perennially contending boys team is loaded with replacement candidates, according to head coach Anthony DeNicola. They include junior Pietro Dinmore and freshman Francesco Dinmore, younger brothers of one of the 2010 all-star grads, and “sophomore sensation” Lucas Miller, a midfielder.

The major exception to this year’s rich-staying-rich rule is defending boys D-III champion Ankara, which placed no one on the 2010 All-Europe team. D-III girls champ Rota, on the other hand, returns All-Europe striker Bri’anna Am’mons (12 goals in 2010), the only D-III girl on the 2010 All-Europe team. She is among nine starters back, according to coach Clarice Brown.

So is star power likely to prevail in 2011? Here’s the consensus:

DivisionI Boys:

SHAPE’s favored, although Ramstein, anchored by All-Europe forward Jonathan McLouth (14 goals, five assists) and bolstered by four freshmen who play “year-round” according to coach Dan Nukala, should test the defending champs.

Nukala provided his own take on the race in an e-mail last week.

“Who to worry about in our division? Everybody,” Nukala asked and answered. “Division I is always a battle.”

Division I Girls:

With its quartet of stars, Patch figures to repeat, but Ramstein, which can field a returning All-European in defender Mackenzie Crews, always poses a threat. Heidelberg, which took Patch to overtime in last year’s title game, is rebuilding after losing three All-Europeans.

Division II Boys

According to Hohenfels coach Shawn Rodman, the power in D-II lies in the private schools.

“… to look at the front-runners for Division II, I think you have to look to Italian schools (AOSR and Marymount) and probably BFA, which is always good,” e-mailed Rodman, whose own Tigers welcome back seven-goal, six-assist All-Europe senior midfielder Patrick Junior.

Division III girls:

With those nine returning starters, look for Rota to repeat. No one else, on paper at least, can match that sort of experience. Unless it’s Menwith Hill, bolstered by sisters Arielle and Brianna Rogers, who transferred in, and returners Kaia Pierce, Monique McCreary and Rachael Solini.

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